Popeye was definitely on to something.
Spinach has long been touted as one of the world’s healthiest foods—indeed, calorie for calorie, spinach and other dark leafy greens contain more nutrients than any other food.
A serving of spinach contains a good dose of Vitamin K, which is essential for maintaining bone health, and it’s also a great source of potassium and iron. Additionally, spinach boasts a host of anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits.
So of course I want my son to be eating the stuff!
But, as you can imagine, my 19-month-old isn’t exactly jumping up and down with excitement over my raw spinach salad.
How do I get my toddler to eat spinach? By having him drink it instead! Tweet this!
Yep, my little guy is a huge fan of spinach smoothies, also known as “green monsters.”
There are countless variations on the spinach smoothie, but for him I keep it pretty basic.
Toddler-Friendly Green Smoothie
Blend together the following:
2 large handfuls baby spinach
1 cup milk (cow’s, almond, soy, etc.)
1 frozen banana
1 tbsp nut butter (peanut, almond, etc. – optional)
Then sit back and watch your toddler slurp down a full serving of spinach in no time!
Need a new gadget for whipping up this kid-friendly recipe? Here’s the blender we use!
Want more kid-friendly ideas? Follow me on Pinterest, where I share great ideas for kid crafts, kid food, and inspiration for busy moms.
Visit Katie Markey McLaughlin’s profile on Pinterest.
Are you a fan of green smoothies? How do you encourage your kiddo to eat his/her green veggies?
This post contains an affiliate link.
39 responses to “How I Get My Toddler to Eat Spinach”
My little boy is 5 now and he’s still not eating spinach although I showed him Popeye on you-tube 🙂
Thank you for the tip, maybe this will work!
I plan to incorporate more smoothies into our diet now that the weather is (finally? hopefully?) warming up. The last one I got him to drink had greens powder in it — maybe next time I’ll try spinach.
I do this, too! Nolan loves smoothies and green smoothies turned into popsicles. He also loves roasted broccoli- I think we said they look like trees, and some dinosaurs eat trees :-).
Green smoothies turned into popsicles??? I cannot wait to try that!
that’s exactly what i thought when I read the popsicles idea! what’s better than a yummy smoothie? a green popsicle that toddlers can hold themselves. GREAT idea 🙂
We love green smoothies here. Susanna will eat nearly any veggie just by mere like or curiosity.
However when the “there’s no way I’m eating that” body language appears, I turn to one if three strategies: Daddy (who can get her to eat almost anything), letting it go (sometimes it’s not worth it), or hiding it in rice-quinoa-a sauce or soup.
All good tactics! For some reason Daddy can get Luke to eat almost anything in our household too.
I’m not such a big fan of spinach either, but of course I want my kids to eat healthy. We’ve really been struggling with the 3 yo. She detests anything green – except for grapes. Worth a try! Thanks!
Genius!
Something that has worked for me has been to make myself a plate of something and act like I didn’t want to share because it was SO good. My 5yo (then 2yo) scarfed down my whole bowl of sauteed kale because he had to ask for it three times 🙂
Ohhhhhh love that idea! My toddler always wants to eat my food, so this would definitely work.
I’ve been meaning to jump on the green monster smoothie bandwagon myself. Maybe I can make two smoothies: one for me and one for my little one!
Katie, I gave it a try this morning and it worked. My son had a smoothie (with spinach in it!) and he LOVED it.
That’s AWESOME!!!
I am STILL trying to convince my kids that green smoothies are yummy. I made the mistake the first time of not making it fruity enough, and they won’t try it again. I’m going to have to do a surprise attack, maybe in a container that they can’t see what they are drinking!!
Yeah, I make sure the banana taste is VERY prominent, haha.
I’ll have to try this! Not just for my kids, but for me. I love my greens, but I can’t do spinach!
You really can’t taste it in the smoothie!
That’s awesome! My teenage daughter makes smoothies with kale in them. All my kids like spinach and they have since they were little. I never had an issue with that vegetable. What we do always have an issue with is there being enough spinach to go around. One bag is never enough, it seems like!
I’m amazed at how fast we go through it, too!
Yep! That’s how I get my two year old to eat her green leafy veggies too. But she also happens to like salad now so WIN!
Great idea! When my oldest son was first introduced to cow’s milk he did not like it at all so I used to make him a banana smoothie, and he’d drink it! I never thought of adding spinach, though. I’ll be trying this with my youngest.
It’s all about exposure at a young age. Get them to like it as toddlers, and they’ll have good eating habits as adults.
So clever, Katie! I actually use this trick on myself, to sneak a little veggie goodness into my breakfast. 🙂
We make green smoothies almost every day! I make one big one, and I share with both kids. When it was really snowy one day and my husband forgot the cream for snow ice cream, we even threw a snowball into our smoothie for fun. Green snowballs were a total win!
Ohhhh I will remember that for next year!
green snowballs !?!?!?! Brilliant!
How awesome is this~ We must try this! Thanks for the recipe! Re-tweeted!
My kids LOVE those Odwalla juices. I really should be making more green smoothies! I just bought some spinach today, so I’ll have to try it out. Thanks for the recipe and for linking up!!
Yummy! I will be sharing this on Facebook later this evening! Thanks for the recipe!
Hi
Let alone spinach, my niece hates anything remotely green. My sister is really worried about her eating habits. And this little monster has such a good sense of smell that she picks every single leaf out of anything.
Is there any way we can hide this green color and still make her eat veggies?
Thanks in Advance
[…] Toddler- Friendly Green Smoothie from Pick Any […]
[…] some spinach in a smoothie and your kids will be none the wiser. You should try to avoid “hiding” veggies, but it […]
Both my kids love peas straight out of the freezer
That’s awesome! I’ll have to try that with my toddler.
[…] PICKANYTWO.NET […]
I’m loving green smoothies! It’s a great and tasty way to get a lot more nutrients in your diet! Does this smoothie recipe make one or two servings?
Just one, though it’s usually too much for my kid to finish, so we share!
[…] Toddler Friendly Green Smoothie Strawberry-Pineapple Kale Smoothie Mike Wazowski Monster Green Smoothie Coconut Pineapple Green Smoothie Sneaky Green Smoothie Mango Green Smoothie […]
[…] image credit: pickanytwo / Katie M. McLaughlin Get the recipe here for Toddler-Friendly Green Smoothie […]